The World Is a Beautiful Place manages to fit on PhilaMOCA stage for intimate gig

Under the lone disco ball of Philadelphia’s premiere art house, The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die held an intimate gig at PhilaMOCA, part of a quick four-city tour across the each coast, bringing out all artistic guns that proved how damn good these emo revival front burners still are.

Met with a single piece of paper with a ghastly scribbling of SOLD OUT, the growing line of anxious sad bois waiting in the cold alleyway outside the venue. Inside, openers For Everest blasted right into their set of epic post-punk proportions, begging the crowd to talk about Bleed America with them. Bad Heaven (or however the hell you spell it) jumped on stage next, as World Is guitarist Tyler Bussey filled in on guitar for a lovely laid back indie rock set, toning things down for the stars of the night.

The World Is a Beautiful Place “marquee” | Photo by Chris DeFlitch

As some-weird ass lo-fi bedroom pop played in the background, The World Is… set up and the crowd shifted in, as I opted for a comfier balcony spot (with an actual chair!!). In the mean time, the band slowly faded into their “Blank #x” intro, jumping into two classics from the band’s first release Formlessness, to the joy of every die-hard fan there. From there on, every song seem to fade seamlessly into each other, from staples “January 10th, 2014,” “Heartbeat in the Brain” and “Gig Life” into my favorite “The Word Lisa”.

The rest of gig found selections from Harmlessness, ending with the band just unplugging instruments at their end of “Smoke & Felt.” Overall, PhilaMOCA hosted the biggest “chill pill” party of the century, and as I leave with a copy of For Everest’s We Are At Home In The Body, I hope we get a new full-length from the headliner soon. Like really soon.